Once this torn and frayed team is put to rest, hopefully management will take a new approach in terms of personnel and on ice system and structure.

A much more aggressive and mentally tough approach on ice. Every zone on the ice needs to be contested. No portion of the ice should be conceded. The defense needs to stand up at the blueline, defend it at all costs before backing off. The forwards need to relentless in their backchecking duties. Put heavy pressure on the point shooters, maintaining active stick work, blocking shots, crowding passing lanes. Constant motion with a purpose. The team needs to play as a cohesive 5 man unit, with good gap control. As Lapierre said today, the team needs to push through, to leave everything out on the ice. The passive, reactive style that the team has played needs to be replaced with an assertive aggressive style. A mediocre team like the Leafs play a full out style that contests every area on the ice, it is a style the Habs should emulate. If players don’t buy into it, goodbye.

In terms of acquiring players, the organization should actively seek out players that have a proven winning pedigree. Players that find losing unacceptable, and that will embrace the notion of playing in Montreal and genuinely want to continue the tradition of excellence that was once synomous of the Canadiens. If one looks at scouting reports of Detroit’s prospects the same descriptions of their young players come up again and again: courageous, persistent, boundless energy, fearless, battles intensely. Rather error on the side of character than pure skill at this point. Tired of seeing teams endlessly cycle the puck down low, sick of seeing the Habs constantly loose all the races for the puck, tired of watching the team not have the will and the fortitude to win one on one battles. The team needs to be transformed. The team needs to strike a proper balance between having a Tanguay, complemented with a player like Tomas Holmstrom.

[Source: GoHabs.com]

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